Air-compressor.



PATENTED FEB. 19. 1907.

H. H. HERRMANN. AIR COMPRESSOR. APPLICATION rum) AUG. 1'. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 844,724. PATENTED FEB. 19, 1907. H. H. HBRRMANN. AIR COMPRESSOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG- 7. 1905.

'2 SHBBTSSHEET 2.

HENRY II. IIERRHANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AIR-COMPRESSOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 19, 1907.

Application filed August- '7. 1905. Serial No. 273.032.

T0 LLZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY II. HERRMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Clicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useiul Inoprovemont in Air-Compressors, of which the l'ollowing is specification.

My object is to provide an air-compressor of simple construction wl. ich shall adopt itlOl use in households and other places where power is not readily obtainable ror conipi'essing air for supplying household gas-making maclines, lor blowing-forges, and for other purposes.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in wi icl?.

I igure 1 is a partly-broken view, in sectional side elevation, of my iniproved ir- 00Il'.p1 ssor; Fig. 2, a section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction oi the arrow; Fig. 3, an enlarged perspective view of one or the check-valves employed; and Fig. 4 a similar view of the several parts of he check-valve, illustrating them in their relative positions for assembling.

' A is a receptacle or chamber of any suitable shape ior the conipressed air, that shown being rectangular in cross-section, supported on legs A, suitably braced, the receptacle having at one end an outlet or and in its sides inwardly-opening CiZC ck-valvo s A communicating with bellows B or other suitable construction of air-purrp secured on the sides of the re ceptolole and each provided with an inwardly-opening cho ck-valve B oi the same construction as the cho ck-valvos A, the form. of pumps shown being the ordinary form or bellows, or w iclr there rriaybe one or more, it being pre'rerred that each side of tlte receptacle when rectangular, as shown, be provided with a bellows.

Ea h che ck-valve is provided with an annular fl:.nge or valve-guide a" about one of its ends, against wiich a flexible valve a abuts. The valve is held in place centrally of the guide by a screw a pissing through the valve and into support a. mounted con trally of the guide in a cross-piece c C is an elsstic diophragnr secured at its edges to the inside surface of the receptacle, near the inner end thereof, to ado pt it to be expanded, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, to regulate the pressure of discharge from the receptacle, more particularly when the pressure therein is rendered excessive by winding up the bellows-actuating mechanism, hereinafter described.

Journalod at one end of the receptacle ina lranie D is a di ive-shait E, carrying near its center a windlass 0, having wound upon it a rope or able F, and on opposite sides of tlie windlass gears e and e. The gear a is loosely IIOUIltGd on the drive-shalt and carlies a pallet e", wliich engages a ratclie t-Wloeel 6 secured to the shalt, to rotate tlfe gear a when the shai't is turned by a crank-handle E, provided thereon, during the winding of the cable upon the windless. The gear 0 is fastened to the shalt to rotate therow ith; J our naled in the IIPJTO and in the end oi the receptacle is a drive-shalt G, carrying a large gear g, fastened tiereon and nios ing with the gear 0. Mosliing with the gear e is a gear g, loosely ILOUIltCCl on the shalt G and carrying a pallet g wliich engages a ratchetwheel 9 secured to the shalt G, to turn it as the cable unwinos from the windlass. A gear g, festo nod to the shaft G, n .(shos with gears H II II II, one for each bellows, provided on shafts 7r, journaled in brackets h, each of wl ich gears is connected to its respective bellows by a pitn1an-rod 7L2, pivoted at one end on its ro spo ctive gear and pivoted at its opposite end to a connectingdinlr 7L3, wlich is in turn pivotally co nnoeted with an arm h, projecting from tlie bellows. Thus the turning cl tie gears will car'se tlte bellows to be actuated to l'orce air through the OiTCOli- *alvos into the receptacle.

Suspended from a support I, with which the upper end of the cable F is connected, is pulley-and-wciglrt mechanism for actuating the gears, comprising a fixed pulley K and a movable pulley K, the latter having suspended on it a weight I. The cable passes over the fixed pulley, under the movable pulley, and is secured at its free end to the support. Thus the descent of the weight causes the cable to unwind from the windlass and rotate the gears, as will be hereinafter explained. It is obvious that K and K may each denote a series of pulleys in any desired number, and thus the machine be made to operate for a longer time during the unwinding of the cable from the windlass than where but two pulleys are employed, as shown.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The cable is wound upon the Windlass by rotating the drive-shaft by means of the crankhandle, bringing the weight to the position shown in Fig. 1. Upon releasing the handle the weight descends, unwinding the cable from the windlass and turning the driveshaft, which through its gear connection with the shaft G causes it to turn, and with it its gear 9 thereby rotating each of the gears H to operate the bellows by their connections therewith. The bellows continue in opera tion until the pressure of the air in the receptacle is equal to the pressure attainedin the bellows. When this degree of pressure is attained, whether by shutting off the outlet from the receptacle or otherwise, the weight is interrupted in its downward movement until the pressure in the receptacle decreases, when the weight resumes its descent. Thus the machine is automatic in its action and continues in either constant or interrupted movement until the cable is entirely unwound from the windlass. During the rewinding of the cable on the windlass it is desirable to continue uninterruptedly the operation of the bellows, and this is accomplished in the following manner: Upon operating the handle E the pallet on the gear 6 engages the ratchetwheel 6 thus actuating the gear 2 and the gear 9 and causing the gear g to turn in a direction opposite to that in which it turns during the unwinding of the cable. By turning the drive-shaft in the direction for winding the cable the gear g on the shaft G is freely rotated independently of the shaft as its pallet rides freely over the teeth of the ratchetwheel 9 The diaphragm C serves to render uniform the pressure in the receptacle when it becomes excessive, as during the rewinding operation, when there might be excessive pressure produced under the speed at which the drive-shaft would then be turned.

As will be seen from the foregoing description, the simplicity and cheapness of the construction constituting my improvement adapts it to be installed in households, forges, and the like in which the use of other motor mechanism is not feasible, either because of the expensiveness or of lack of the medium for driving it.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An air-compressor comprising, in combination, a pressure-storage chamber provided with a valved pressure.inlet opening and a valved pressure-outlet opening, a bellows mounted immediately upon a wall of said chamber to constitute it one of the bellows-walls, said bellows covering said inletopening, and beingprovided with a valved air-inlet opening, a handle-equipped r; tatable drive-shaft, a gear loosely mounted thereon and carrying a pallet, a ratchet-wheel on said shaft engaged by said pallet, a fixed gear and a windlass on said shaft, weighted-pulley mechanism having a cable connection with the windlass for operating the drive-shaft, a driven shaft, a fast gear near one end of said driven shaft meshing with the loose gear on said drive-shaft, a loose gear on said driven shaft carrying a pallet, a ratchet-wheel on the driven shaft engaged by the last-named pallet, a fast gear on the opposite end of the driven shaft, a gear operated by said lastnamed gear and carrying a pitman, and a link connecting said pitman with said bellows, for the purpose set forth.

2. An air-compressor comprising, in com bination, a pressure-storage chamber provided with valved pressure-inlet openings and valved pressure-discharge openings, bellows mounted immediately upon the walls of said chamber each to constitute it one of the bellows-walls, each of said bellows covering aninlet-opening and being provided with a valved air-inlet opening, a handle-equipped rotatable shaft having a gear connection with each of said bellows for operating them, and weight-and-pulley mechanism connected with said shaft for actuating the bellows-by the gravity of the weight, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY H. HERRMANN.

In presence of J. H. LANDEs, A. U. THORIEN. 

